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Communication Studies
Plot Michelle and Jeff arrive at the school as she informs him that she has volunteered to chaperone the Valentine's Day dance tomorrow. Jeff agrees to join her at the dance and asks what exactly she expects from him on the holiday. She tells him to do whatever makes him happy before heading off to her class. As Jeff walks to the study room, he checks messages on his cell phone and notices an interesting voice mail left by Britta. Later in the study room, the Greendale Human Being delivers gifts for Shirley, Annie, and Abed. Pierce and Troy are upset that they didn't get anything. Britta finally arrives, looking disheveled and hung over. After the rest of the group leaves to go to their classes, Jeff stays behind to talk to her. He plays her voice mail back to her which consists of a rambling drunken rant laced with BCI. Embarrassed, she runs out of the room as Jeff laughs at her. On her way out, she passes Abed who asks Jeff what happened. When Jeff gleefully explains the situation, Abed warns him about its possible ramifications. He explains that the balance between Jeff and Britta has shifted and that he now has something he can hold over her. Jeff is skeptical until he observes a noticeable change in Britta's attitude towards him in Spanish class. Señor Chang's "lecture" is interrupted when the Greendale Human Being arrives. He delivers two Valentine's gifts for Troy and Pierce. Chang sees through their ruse and points out to that they bought and sent the gifts to themselves. He leads the class into laughing at the embarrassed duo. Later in the cafeteria, Shirley and Annie are angry at Chang for humiliating their friends and decide to do something about it. Meanwhile, Jeff is trying to smooth things over with Britta, but she interprets his efforts as pity and asks him to leave her alone. Afterwards, Jeff interrupts Abed's movie shoot in the Spanish classroom to ask his advice on how to resolve the situation. Abed suggests that he pretend to drunk dial her back. When Jeff is unable to convincingly act drunk Abed offers to help him with his performance . Later, Abed is trying to inspire a realistic performance out of Jeff back in his dorm room by having him drink. Jeff is annoyed at the entire situation, even moreso after Abed offers his personal observations about his attraction to both ladies. He points out that Britta challenges him to be better while Slater is low maintenance and is fine with him the way he is. Jeff tells Abed that he can't do this while being studied by him. Abed agrees and starts to drink along with Jeff. Pretty soon, no performance is necessary as they both get extremely drunk and party the night away. The next morning, they are both noticeably absent from Spanish class. The Greendale Human Being arrives and delivers a letter to Chang that supposedly contains a job offer from the Princeton Spanish Department. Chang easily sees through the prank and pins the blame on Pierce and Troy. He orders them to accompany him to the Valentine's Day dance as his dates while wearing ladies pantsuits. They start to protest, but Chang threatens to fail them if they don't comply. Meanwhile, back in Abed's dorm room, Jeff and Abed finally awaken with bad hangovers unable to remember the night before. When Abed checks Jeff's cell phone, it reveals that not only did he call Britta last night but Slater as well. Later in the study room, Pierce and Troy are determined to find out who actually sent Chang the letter. Jeff and Abed arrive and Britta asks Jeff if he remembers calling her last night. When he lies and says yes, she tells a surprised Jeff that things are cool between them again. End tag Troy and Pierce exit the Valentine's dance, glad that their ordeal is over. Troy is surprised when it turns out that Pierce has plans to go out with Chang for frozen yogurt. Recurring themes Continuity: *'Googly eyes': Jeff is still dating Slater, but hints of Jeff and Britta's feelings for each other begin to surface. *'This must be the place': Abed's dorm room and the campus quad with the Luis Guzman statue is prominently featured in the beginning of the show. *'A nice gesture': Annie and Shirley debut their signature pinky handshake. *'Familiar faces': "Pierce" and "Troy" from Abed's short films "The Community College Chronicles" make a brief reappearance. *'Double take': Abed shoots a scene for his film that echoes Chang's actions in Spanish class when he mocked Pierce and Troy. *'Sweet ride': Chang's motor scooter is seen again. *'Discontinuity': Abed's observations about Jeff's relationships with Slater and Britta is retconned several episodes later in the Season One finale "Pascal's Triangle Revisited". *'Name that tune': "If I Die Before You", composed by Ludwig Goransson, is featured in this episode. The song is part of the Community soundtrack. Running gags: *Special Note: The episode features the first mention of the movie "Beetlejuice". The 1988 Tim Burton film is about a ghost that is summoned after having his name spoken three times. The movie would later be mentioned in the Season Two episode "Cooperative Calligraphy" and again in the Season Three episode "Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps" which includes a brief payoff for the three year setup to the joke. *'Attention students'!: Dean Pelton announces that it's Valentine's week, and that The Greendale Human Being will be the delivering Valentine's presents to the students from their admirers. *'Nice outfit': Troy and Pierce are forced to wear women's pants suits by Chang. Pop culture references: *'IMDB': Slater mentions the movie "Beetlejuice" when she makes fun of Britta's name. *'TV guide': **The 1980's Tony Danza sitcom "Who's the Boss?" is mentioned by Abed where he compares Jeff and Britta's situation to that of Tony and Angela. **"Friends" is mentioned by Abed when he compares the drunk dialing to a somewhat similar plot on the show involving Rachel and Chandler. **"Lost" is mentioned by Abed, referring to his latest star as young version of the Asian guy in the show. *'Shout out': Kurt Cobain is mentioned along with his suicide. *'Product placement': Abed's "Chang" was in a Papa John's commercial. Meta references: *'Current events': After "Chang's" outburst Abed mentions that after one Papa John's commercial he thinks he is Christian Bale. This is a reference to Bale's outburst on the set on Terminator Salvation *'Homage': Jeff and Abed's drunk partying is an homage to a similar sequence found in the 1985 John Hughes classic "The Breakfast Club". This movie and the director were directly referenced before in the series Pilot. There was also a 2011 Entertainment Weekly photo shoot with the cast which had them recreate the iconic movie poster Abed can also be seen wearing Judd Nelson's "John Bender" outfit during some of the scene as well as the morning after when Jeff and Abed awaken, hung over from their escapades. Quotes Category:Season 1 Episodes Category:Community Episodes